Doc Savage: Phantom Lagoon (The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage) (34 page)

BOOK: Doc Savage: Phantom Lagoon (The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage)

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Joe is also the co-author (with Brad Strickland) of two novels, which he illustrated as well:
KONG: King of Skull Island
(DH Press) was published in 2004, and
Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG
(St. Martin’s Griffin), in 2005. 2012 saw the release of Kindle and iBook versions of
KONG: King of Skull Island
that were accompanied by Part 1 of a cutting-edge app version of the book, with the second and final part just completed and due out by the end of 2013. With the property in full development by Festa Entertainment, a
KONG: King of Skull Island
YA series and much, much more are all in the works. Joe is also finishing the screenplay and developing imagery for his newest creation, a faction world of truly epic proportions tentatively titled
The Primordials.

DeVito has been painting covers for Will Murray’s
The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage
since the series’ inception. 2013–the 80th anniversary of Doc–has been a banner year, seeing not one but
two
full wraparound covers of monumental scale for the wildly popular Savage books. The cover for
Doc Savage: Skull Island,
the first ever authorized cross-over novel of these two iconic characters, was a classic montage painting that conveyed the Savage/Kong world as only such a composition could. The second wraparound cover painting was for
The Miracle Menace,
effectively an 80th Anniversary Doc Savage image,
Wild Adventures
style. It depicts for the first time Doc’s dirigible, his tri-motor aircraft, the Hidalgo Trading Company warehouse and more, all backdropping Doc, Ham and Monk in a dramatically lit composition, complete with cameo appearances for Renny, Long Tom, Johnny and even Habeas Corpus. Wrapping up the year is
Phantom Lagoon,
reintroducing Pat Savage to the series and even more cool Doc gadgetry. And, of course, a quintessentially aquatic monster (one of DeVito’s favorite subjects) that quite literally rounds out the composition. Composed with a green palette,
Phantom Lagoon
is a stark contrast to any Doc Savage cover Joe has yet painted.

www.jdevito.com

www.kongskullisland.com

FB: Joe DeVito-DeVito Artworks

About the Patron

TERRY ALLEN

THE FIRST time I saw Doc Savage, he was falling to his apparent death at the hands of a werewolf on the cover to Marvel Comics’ Doc Savage #8. It was 1973, and my parents (both full-time teachers) had opened up a comic book/used bookstore just after Thanksgiving. It was the beginning of a now 40-year love affair with the Man of Bronze.

I collected all of the Bantam Books paperbacks and then branched out into getting the original pulps. Next, I got foreign editions of all types before buying original comic book and paperback cover art.

In 1990, I discovered an ad for Howard Wright’s
Bronze Gazette.
I was very fortunate to discover that we lived only a couple miles apart in Modesto, California. My friendship with Howard would lead to my first opportunity to create a new Doc Savage collectible by producing a bookplate edition of Doc’s 60th Anniversary novel,
Flight into Fear.
This bookplate was signed by Joe DeVito and Will Murray and was sold exclusively through the
Gazette.
In 1993, I purchased my first DeVito art of the stunning cover painting to
The Jade Ogre.
In 1996, when my wife and I found out we were expecting our fourth child, I commissioned Joe to do a painting for our birth announcement for Christian Lochlan Savage Allen. The announcement was a replica of a Bantam paperback, 24 pages long with pictures and bios of our entire family, and on the front was Joe’s gorgeous rendition of Stork Savage, the Bird of Bronze.

A major turning point in my relationship with Doc came in the summer of 2007 when I was offered a chance to commission a painting by Bob Larkin. I had known Bob’s agent Spencer Beck for a number of years. After setting up the initial deal, I communicated directly with Bob on the details of the painting. Bob and I tossed around a few ideas, and then I came up with one of the best ideas I’ve ever had: doing a painting of Doc and his cousin Pat using my wife, Dawn, as a model for Pat. It was something I was hugely proud of and the illustration was later featured on
The Adventures of Doc Savage
CD collection by Radio Archives.

As fate would have it, Bob and I hit it off on a personal level. Just a few months after Bob completed my commission, his wife Fran, who had already fought a battle against breast cancer, was diagnosed with multiple brain tumors. Determined to help the Larkins, I formed my own business called Fantom Press. Along with Keith “Kez” Wilson, we have been proudly producing collectibles (including many Doc Savage items) exclusively for the benefit of the Larkin family. Fran Larkin lost her battle with cancer on April 21, 2013, but our commitment to Bob remains as he looks forward to restarting his illustration career that he had put on hold while caring for his wife.

The stars aligned once again when I got an email from Joe a few months ago to ask if I was interested in being a patron for a new Doc Savage cover. My youngest daughter, Lily, had asked several times when was she going to be included in a painting, so when Joe reached out to me, the wheels were ready to go into motion. After some discussions with Joe and Will, it turned out that Pat Savage was going to be in
Phantom Lagoon
and could be introduced into their cover concept. The three of us worked out the cover details, reference photos of Lily were supplied, and you see the fantastic results on the front of the book you’re holding.

I do believe that I’m one of the luckiest guys around. Who else can claim that they have two generations of the women in their lives that have been the models for the immortal Pat Savage?

Footnotes

1.
White Eyes.
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2. Doc Savage did not believe in prisons and incarceration. He understood that most prisons were actually breeding grounds for further criminality. So Doc created a secret institution in the wilderness of upstate New York, where criminals who fell under his power are subjected to a unique course of renovation. First, all memory of their criminal pasts are erased surgically. Then they are reeducated to despise crime in all forms. Finally, they are given new identities and taught a useful trade to prepare them for their second chance in life. Many of the “graduates” of Doc’s secret “college” are employed by the bronze man himself, and quite a number have been trained as operatives of a private detective agency Doc had built up over the years.
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3.
Poison Island.
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4. Early in Doc Savage’s career, the bronze man came into contact with a fabulous civilization hidden deep in the mountain fastness of the nation of Hidalgo. There, he encountered remnants of the ancient Mayan people, still living as they did thousands of years ago, entirely isolated from modern civilization. In gratitude for a past service rendered, and in honor of Doc’s father, who had originally discovered this hermit enclave, the good Mayans agreed to give Doc Savage the benefit of their enormous reserves of gold. Periodically, burro trains of the precious metal are sent to the outer world, to be deposited in a bank account owned by Doc Savage. This seemingly endless supply of wealth is what funds Doc Savage’s worldwide operations.
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5.
Mystery Under the Sea.
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6.
The Red Terrors.
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Table of Contents